Within the area of land covered by the resort are seven different towers with guest rooms, and an eighth is due to open soon. Five contain regular hotel rooms, and the other three have (or will have) all-suites accommodations, including timeshares. There are also multiple swimming pools, a giant artificial lagoon, gardens with fountains, dozens of restaurants, bars and shops, conference facilities, a wedding chapel, and it's all fronted by the widest part of Waikiki Beach, at its western end. Here's an overview of the entire complex, from a few years back, obviously downloaded from the internet as opposed to being photographed by yours truly!
In spite of arriving late at night (nearly midnight) I got upgraded to a good room in the Tapa Tower with a decent view of the lagoon and ocean, and the iconic mosaic mural on the wall of the beachfront Rainbow Tower.
It looks a long way to the beach, but it only takes a few minutes to walk there. Good exercise, just getting around this big complex!
Directly below my lanai (balcony) is the Rainbow Bazaar, the main shopping centre of the resort. It's a hodge-podge of architectural styles from North America, Polynesia, and East Asia all joined together. It's a fun place to wander through, while you're considering all the different stores and eateries found there.
Around the corner from my tower is the Ocean Crystal Chapel, poised on top of a rock with waterfalls gushing out below --perhaps meant to evoke a rocky cliff with waves smashing against it. I wonder how much it costs to hold a wedding there? Maybe I'd rather not know!
One of the interesting features of Hawaiian modern architecture is the liberal use of flow-through spaces left open to the outdoors for public areas. This is practical, of course, because we're talking about a marine tropical climate where temperatures pretty much hold steady at the comfortable mid-to-upper 20s Celsius all year round. The front desk area of the resort is a good example.
Right behind the front desk is a beautiful garden with fountains and waterfalls. Beyond the fountains lies the largest of the resort's five swimming pools. And beyond that is the beach.
In the background of this picture is the Tropics bar and restaurant, right on the beachfront walkway. I had an excellent light supper there tonight while watching the spectacular sunset over the Pacific. Sorry to say I forgot my camera. This restaurant too is all outdoors and flow-through space.
By the way, I specify that Tropics is "right on the beachfront walkway" because the resort ends right there. There is no such thing in Hawaii as a "private beach", by state law. The walkway is public turf, as is the sizable expanse of sand beyond it. The beach around that artificial lagoon, on the other hand, is man-made and therefore can be private to guests of the resort.
Pretty spectacular place. Of course, the name "Village" is way out of line. This resort ranks as a pretty healthy-sized city in its own right when all the thousands of rooms are occupied and when you include the staff in the head count.
The drawback is the cost. Of course, nothing in Hawaii is ever really cheap, because of the cost of shipping all kinds of supplies here from the mainland. It's a standard issue of all the beautiful tropical island paradises of the Pacific. Bring lots and lots of money.
With this particular resort, though, there is the added bugbear of the dreaded "Resort Charge". They always provide a list of things that the charge covers, but many of them are things that I don't want to use. However, I still have to pay. I wish they'd just roll it into the room rate and have done with it. As Eric Nicol so memorably said many years ago, you get the undeniable impression of being eaten to death by ants when they put surcharges like this on your bill.
Many hotels in Waikiki, by the way, do not charge resort fees and proudly advertise that fact. On the other Hawaiian islands, this insidious practice is becoming increasingly common.
At any rate, for me this showboat of resorts is affordable for four nights as a result of cashing in my Hilton Hhonors points. It would not necessarily be my first choice of a place to stay because it's so damn huge. At least, as with all such hotels, I will be earning points on all my food and drink room charges while I'm here too so the free-nights game can continue.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village is so huge that it actually contains multiple towers, each of which would be a sizable hotel in its own right. It's really too big for my liking, but since I'm getting four free nights in an ocean view room with my frequent stay points, I'm not being TOO critical!
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